Stand Up, Stand Up For Jesus

A mother had difficulty getting her son to get up in the morning and go to Church. When he finally woke up, he told his mother he didn’t want to go to Church. His mother said, i will give you three reasons why you need to get up and go to Church.

It’s Sunday.

You are 35 years old.

You’re the Pastor.

Historical/Cultural Context -

Luke was a physician and a travel companion of the apostle Paul. He wrote the book of Acts. The earliest possible date of Acts is immediately after the events that Luke recorded in, which would have been c. A.D. 62. Acts is addressed to “Theophilus,” about whom nothing more is known. Luke’s broader audience consisted primarily of Gentile Christians like Theophilus who had already “been taught” about Jesus.

Biblical Text -

Acts 4:13–22 NKJV

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus. And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it. But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves, saying, “What shall we do to these men? For, indeed, that a notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But so that it spreads no further among the people, let us severely threaten them, that from now on they speak to no man in this name.” So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.” So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way of punishing them, because of the people, since they all glorified God for what had been done. For the man was over forty years old on whom this miracle of healing had been performed.

-[Prayer]-

Life Principle - True Christians Stand Up In Boldness & Are Ready For Whatever Comes.

Life Point- Will You Stand Up & Be Counted?

Exegetical -

Acts 4:13–17 NLT

The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures. They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus. But since they could see the man who had been healed standing right there among them, there was nothing the council could say. So they ordered Peter and John out of the council chamber and conferred among themselves. “What should we do with these men?” they asked each other. “We can’t deny that they have performed a miraculous sign, and everybody in Jerusalem knows about it. But to keep them from spreading their propaganda any further, we must warn them not to speak to anyone in Jesus’ name again.”

Homiletical -

boldness. We keep hearing this term come up again and again when we look at this passage of scripture.

We talked last week about how they had no boldness before the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the church. Then after that time in the upper room they are now filled with the Holy Spirit and speak boldly.

Boldness is defined as:

lack of hesitation or fear in the face of risk or danger,

a refusal to be held back by the opinion or judgment of others

They are amazed by their boldness, not because they were learned men. Not because they had all kinds of degrees on the wall but because they were not learned men. They didn’t get caught up into philosophy and the ways the religious people did things.

They were radicals. They were bold because they were filled with the Holy Spirit.

They also recognized Jesus in them. Probably by speech patterns. The way the talked, the way they acted. The way they just trusted God.

John 13:15–17 NLT

I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you. I tell you the truth, slaves are not greater than their master. Nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends the message. Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them.

John 15:18–25 NLT

“If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you. Do you remember what I told you? ‘A slave is not greater than the master.’ Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you. They will do all this to you because of me, for they have rejected the one who sent me. They would not be guilty if I had not come and spoken to them. But now they have no excuse for their sin. Anyone who hates me also hates my Father. If I hadn’t done such miraculous signs among them that no one else could do, they would not be guilty. But as it is, they have seen everything I did, yet they still hate me and my Father. This fulfills what is written in their Scriptures: ‘They hated me without cause.’

I got a news flash for you. If you are not under any kind of pressure to give up what you believe then you may be heading the wrong way. You need to examine yourself and make sure you are in the faith.

He says right here if the world and its’ system of doing things does not hate you, then you are doing the wrong things.

I was reading an article about a United Methodist minister who has decided to stay with the denomination while all the conservative churches are bailing out.

You see he knows that the next meeting they are going to start ordaining gays and he is hoping that the church will also endorse his lifestyle. You see he and his wife have decided to welcome a third into their marriage bed, another woman.

In the comments section he received lots of praise from people in the world for his lifestyle.

Hear me clearly church. This is perverse and against God on many levels. Yet he is being praised by the world. If you are being praised by the world then something is wrong with the way you are going.

John 16:33 NLT

I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”

Acts 4:14–17 NKJV

And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it. But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves, saying, “What shall we do to these men? For, indeed, that a notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But so that it spreads no further among the people, let us severely threaten them, that from now on they speak to no man in this name.”

These folks couldn’t say anything. They were befuddled. The facts were staring them in the face. The man was healed they couldn’t deny that. Peter had preached the Gospel to them and they were offended because of the Gospel.

So what were they to do? They had no legal grounds on which to hold them. They just didn’t like what the men said.

Guess what? We are coming into a political season where Gospel principles and what is right will offend many. Let them be offended not for the sake of politics but for the sake of the Gospel. Don’t argue with them, just give em Jesus and let the Holy Spirit do what he does.

They couldn’t really do anything because they didn’t do anything bad. So they hatched a plan and severely threatened them to speaking about Jesus.

A time is coming and now is here that when we speak in the name of Jesus there will be laws created to stop us. Jesus and conservative Christianity will become illegal. It will be deemed hate speech and is already on its’ way to being classified as hate speech. Don’t believe me? look around, look at what the news is reporting and how they report it. It all comes down to, “Christians bad” “Christians are crazy” let’s punish them for their views.

You see this is nothing new this has been going on since the beginning of the church. The only difference is that we have people in the church who are not filled with the Spirit and power, who will not speak the word of God boldly. Are you one of those? Or will stand up and be counted?

Life Point - Are You Ready For Whatever?

Exegetical -

Acts 4:18–22 NLT

So they called the apostles back in and commanded them never again to speak or teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, “Do you think God wants us to obey you rather than him? We cannot stop telling about everything we have seen and heard.” The council then threatened them further, but they finally let them go because they didn’t know how to punish them without starting a riot. For everyone was praising God for this miraculous sign—the healing of a man who had been lame for more than forty years.

Homiletical -

You have the healed man, the crowd, and the leaders. Remember you have a large number of people who now made up the church that was standing right there milling about to see how this will all unfold.

They can’t deny the miracle. The guy was over 40 when he was healed.

So the leaders wanted to address this issue more harshly but they couldn’t because they feared a riot.

This is the backdrop of what is going on here.

So they have their little plan to deal with them and they call them back into the room and command them never to speak in the name of Jesus again.

I love the response here though. The apostles reply to this in boldness, “Do you think God wants us to obey you rather than Him? We cannot stop telling about everything we have seen and heard.”

It has become a cliche yet a powerful reality today. You are all that some people will ever know or see about Jesus. You should take that seriously. That is a serious thing. God’s anger, wrath and justice must be poured out in eternity on those in hell because of their sin. Will you stop talking about the name of Jesus or will you speak in boldness.

Matthew 28:16–20 NKJV

Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

Peter and John were there when this happened. They knew their mission. They knew they were commanded by God to go and tell.

Not just when it was easy, but when it was hard. Especially when it was hard.

I am about to say something controversial. Are you ready? There is no such thing as a fair weather Christian. You either are a Christian, with all that entails including persecution or you’re not. You can be a regular church attender, a member of a church, even a deacon. But that don’t make you a Christian. That just makes you religious.

Peter and John weren’t talking about religion, because if they were then the leaders of the temple wouldn’t have been upset. No they were talking about a true relationship with Jesus. Do you have that today?

If so, will you stand up and be counted and be ready for whatever follows?

Life Principle– True Christians Stand Up In Boldness & Are Ready For Whatever Comes.

Call to Action – altar call….